GLAM Francesca Cumani steals the show whenever she is on camera – and will be for this year’s edition of Royal Ascot. The horse racing expert is now back to co-present ITV’s coverage of the horse racing spectacle – but who is she and where else would you know her from?
Here is the lowdown…
Francesca Cumani was born in January 1983 and is a British-Italian horse racing expert, presenter and commentator. Her father Luca is one of the UK’s top flat-racing trainers who trained two Epsom Derby winners and Francesca first began riding racehorses from the age of 12. The 41-year-old attended boarding school in Oxfordshire where she went on to study languages at Bristol University before working on horseback safaris in Kenya and Argentina. Francesca had her first son, Harry, with ex-husband Rob Archibald, a former member of the Australian polo team. She has since split and divorced from Rob and then moved on with fellow racing presenter Oli Bell, whom she dated for a spell. Francesca has since gotten together with businessman Max Johnson, who is a triathlete and they have a child together called Teddy.
After being tasked with transporting two of her father’s racehorses to compete in the Melbourne Cup, Francesca was interviewed by Australian TV. Her enthusiasm and knowledge on camera led to her commentating for Australia’s Channel 7 during the Melbourne Cup, and soon she was signed by CNN’s to aide their racing coverage. Francesca joined ITV in 2016 and has hosted the channel’s coverage of the 2016 season onwards alongside Ed Chamberlain. She is often alongside Chamberlain at the UK’s biggest races including Glorious Goodwood, Royal Ascot, Aintree and Cheltenham Festival.
